


Is This a Kissing Fic?

by thebrightestbird



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 03:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17993708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebrightestbird/pseuds/thebrightestbird
Summary: “Brian, can you climb this and move that lighting?”John and Brian's "Princess Bride" moment.





	Is This a Kissing Fic?

**Author's Note:**

> Just a bit of fluff that popped in my head today.

Queen is playing in an actual concert hall tonight. It’s small (“Quaint,” Freddie had insisted), but it was a refreshing change from the pubs and uni gigs.

The venue’s stage workers are on a break, which means the members of the band are on a break as well, pausing their part in the stage setup and soundchecks.

Roger’s outside for a smoke. Freddie goes to find a nice cuppa for his voice.

And Brian just sits on the edge of the stage, long legs dangling, strumming on his guitar, distractedly, because John keeps milling about behind him looking up at the lighting.

Something captures his attention, and he puzzles over it for a moment, nodding decisively, then looking about. He finds a ladder not too far from the drumkit and fetches it, returning to the spot under the lighting that has his attention.

To Brian’s surprise, John turns to him (and consequently catches him staring at the young bass player). “Brian, can you climb this and move that lighting?”

“Why do you need me to do it? Can’t you wait for one of the stagehands to come back?”

“Why wait when it can be done now?”

“Fair enough,” Brian concedes, “but why do you need me if you know what you want to do up there?”

“You’re tall,” John says, as if that was the most obvious answer.

“You have a ladder!”

John huffs. “Aren’t you at least a bit curious as to what I want done and why?”

Damn, he’s playing on Brian’s need to know things. “I trust you to get the lighting properly sorted.”

“What if one day I’m ill, but the show must go on, you know, and Freddie is atrociously lit? He’ll never forgive you knowing you had the opportunity to learn the right angles and refractive considerations for his performance space and turned it down.”

“First off, if one of us can’t play, none of us play. You know this.” Brian makes sure to look John straight in the eyes to emphasize his point. John’s the first to blink away, looking down bashfully. “Secondly, even though your scenario won’t ever happen, you’re right about not risking Freddie’s lighting. He will gut us if he knows we could have done something to make it right. I will climb this ladder for the greater good.”

John looks back up with a beautiful, gleeful smile.  Brian’s breath catches. He quickly turns to start climbing the ladder.

Once atop, John has Brian twist and turn and test all the parts of the light. (“Just a tick down. No, the other down.” “There is no other down, Deacy!”) He’s explaining his rationale, talking about how the number of lights available for the size of the performance space plays a part in it all, when you can compromise and when you can cheat if needed. Brian’s absorbing the information, but he’s also in awe of it – in awe of John.

“I think that’s good,” John finally declares. “You can come down now.”

Brian climbs back down in what he thinks is a careful manner. However, he doesn’t quite catch the penultimate step. His long legs save him and his feet hit the floor hard, like he had intentionally leapt off. John’s hands grab him tight around the waist to steady him.

When he gets his bearings, he notices how close John is, almost pressed against him. The proximity means John has to really tilt his head up to look at Brian’s face. “Are you all right?” John asks.

Brian simply nods. He takes a calculated risk and moves his hands up to John’s shoulders in a gesture that could be interpreted as reassuring his friend that he’s steady on his feet now. It’s a risk because that’s not the reason he’s doing this at all.

John’s eyelids flutter when he feels Brian’s hands on him. He takes a shuddering breath, the grip on Brian’s waist tightens. Brian tightens his embrace in kind (because it is an embrace, that’s the truth of it).

“Be more careful next time,” John insists.

Brian smirks at the mostly whispered sass from the lips he realizes he’s been focusing on. “As you wish,” he softly promises and leans down for a kiss.

(Now, if you must rate their first kiss against all of history’s rated kisses since the invention of kissing — which is completely unfair, mind you — theirs was quite passionate, thank you very much. However, there was definitely nothing pure about it. Deacy is very good with his tongue.)

-end-

**Author's Note:**

> Deacy is Buttercup. I regret nothing.


End file.
